Find and remove old git branches

README.md

Description

Find and delete old git branches that are no longer needed.

Usage

Clone the repo and add to your path (just for ease of use):

git clone git://gist.github.com/2891516.git gist-2891516
cd gist-2891516
export PATH="$PATH:$(pwd)"

Now go to your project.

# list branches that have been merged to the current branch
git old-branches

# list branches that have been merged to the remote:
git old-branches github/master

# format branch delete commands according to user:
git old-branches github/master | format_branch_deletes

Example output:

$ git old-branches | format_branch_deletes
# schiang@comverge.com

  git branch -d remove_new_relic  # 301a52b (5 hours ago) <schiang@comverge.com>
  git branch -d something         # 301a52b (5 hours ago) <schiang@comverge.com>

$ git old-branches github/master | format_branch_deletes
# schiang@comverge.com

  git push github :30434977_fix_the_clock    # a262408 (3 weeks ago) <schiang@comverge.com>
  git push github :add_non_existant_methods  # f47c5c9 (10 days ago) <schiang@comverge.com>
  git push github :manual_requires           # c9bcc3f (3 weeks ago) <schiang@comverge.com>
  git push github :unnecessary_fsr           # 54f4eb4 (9 days ago) <schiang@comverge.com>

The idea is that you can check the delete commands and execute as needed. Note that once the remote branches are deleted your teammates may have to prune the deleted branches from their local copies:

# use --dry-run option first as a precaution
git remote prune github

format_branch_deletes

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
begin
require 'optparse'
require 'erb'
require 'ostruct'

#############################################################################
OptionParser.new do |opts|
  opts.banner = %{
Usage: #{$0} [options] [BRANCHES]

  Formats a list of branches for deletion. If no branches are listed then
  branches are read from stdin.

  Local branches are formatted like

      git branch -d BRANCH

  Remote branches (remote/branch) are formatted like:

      git push REMOTE :BRANCH

Options:
}.lstrip

  opts.on("-h", "--help", "print this help") do
    puts opts
    puts
    exit
  end

end.parse!

#############################################################################

# read branches from stdin and sort by email
branches_by_email = Hash.new {|hash, key| hash[key] = [] }
while branch = gets
  branch.strip!

  logline = `git log --format="%ae,%h,%cr" -n1 '#{branch}'`
  email, sha, date = logline.strip.split(',')
  msg = "#{sha} (#{date}) <#{email}>"

  if branch.include?('/')
    remote, branch = branch.split('/')
  else
    remote = ""
  end

  branches_by_email[email] << [remote, branch, msg]
end

# print assignments
template = ERB.new <<-EOF, nil, "<>"
# <%= email %>

<% branches.sort.each do |(remote, branch, msg)| %>
<% if remote.empty? %>
  git branch -d <%= branch.ljust(max) %>  # <%= msg %>
<% else %>
  git push <%= remote %> :<%= branch.ljust(max) %>  # <%= msg %>
<% end %>
<% end %>

EOF

branches_by_email.keys.sort.each do |email|
  branches = branches_by_email[email]
  binding = OpenStruct.new(
    :email => email,
    :branches => branches,
    :max => branches.map {|r,b,m| b.length }.max
  ).send(:binding)

  puts template.result(binding)
end

#############################################################################
rescue(Errno::EPIPE)
  raise if $DEBUG
  if $!.class == Errno::EPIPE
    exit 0
  else
    puts "#{$!.message} (see '#{$0} --help')"
    exit 1
  end
end

git-old-branches

#!/bin/bash
############################################################################
progname="${0##*/}"
version="1.0"
author="Simon Chiang"
usestr="usage: %s [-h] [reference_branch]

  Prints branches already merged to the reference branch (by default the
  current branch).  If a remote branch is given, then branches for that
  remote are considered.

"
optstr="       %s   %s\n"

while getopts "h" opt
do
  case $opt in
    d  )  delete="true" ;;
    h  )  printf "$usestr" "$progname"
          printf "%s" "$hel"
          printf "options:\n"
          printf "$optstr" "-h" "prints this help"
          printf "\n"
          exit 0 ;;
    r  )  remote="$OPTARG/" ;;
    \? )  printf "$usestr" "$progname"
          exit 2 ;;
  esac
done
shift $(($OPTIND - 1))

############################################################################
current_branch () {
  git branch | grep '*' | awk '{print $2}'
}

ref="${1:-$(current_branch)}"
remote=$(printf "%s" "$ref" | sed -ne 's/\/.*//p')
branch_opts=""

if ! [ x"$remote" = x ]
then branch_opts="-r"
fi

############################################################################
set -e

git branch $branch_opts --merged $ref | 
  tr -d '* ' |
  grep "${remote:-.}" |
  grep -v "^${ref}$" |
  grep -v "^smartgrid-v.*-maint$"